They Did NOT Receive What Was Promised

Hebrews 11:30–40
Key Verse: Hebrews 11:39

When we think about faith, we often remember the victories: the sea opening, the walls falling, and people escaping danger. But what about those who believed God and still suffered? What about those who were mocked, imprisoned, or put to death?

The writer brings both experiences before us. Some accomplished mighty things through faith. Others endured terrible hardships through that same faith. God approved them all, yet they did not receive the ultimate fulfillment of His promise during their earthly lives.

That is the encouragement these suffering readers needed. God’s approval did not depend upon a comfortable earthly outcome. His promise remained certain.

Faith Believes God and Obeys

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

Consider God’s instructions concerning Jericho. Priests with trumpets, the ark of the covenant, and armed men were to circle the city once daily for six days. On the seventh day, they were to circle it seven times. Joshua commanded the people to remain silent until he instructed them to shout (Joshua 6:1–20).

From a human military perspective, those instructions could have seemed ridiculous. Imagine the inhabitants watching Israel walk around their fortified city day after day. Imagine how unusual it might have seemed even to the Israelites.

Yet they continued because God had spoken.

The walls were still standing, but they believed His word. Their victory would come through His power, and their faith enabled them to follow His instructions.

Notice the relationship: they believed God, and therefore they obeyed. That is the emphasis running throughout this chapter.

Rahab’s Faith Moved Her to Act

31 By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after welcoming the spies in peace.

Rahab explained that Jericho’s inhabitants had heard what God had done. They knew about the Red Sea and the defeat of Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings. Those reports had filled them with fear (Joshua 2:9–11).

But notice Rahab’s conviction. She knew God had given Israel the land. She acknowledged that Israel’s God was God in heaven above and on earth beneath.

She believed what those events revealed about Him, and she acted. Receiving and hiding the spies placed her at risk, but her faith moved her to do it.

When Jericho fell, Rahab and her family were rescued. They were initially placed outside Israel’s camp, and the account then tells us that she lived among Israel (Joshua 6:22–25).

Her story reaches into Jesus’ genealogy. Salmon, traditionally identified by some interpreters as one of the spies, became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Salmon also appears as Salma in 1 Chronicles 2:11. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth—another Gentile woman of faith (Matthew 1:5).

Here again, believing God produced action.

More Examples Than Time to Recount

32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I recount Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, as well as David and Samuel and the prophets,
33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, performed righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,
34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong from weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

The writer now moves from detailed examples to a broad testimony. He could continue recounting people and circumstances, but time would fail him.

He names judges, then David, Samuel, and the prophets. He gathers their accomplishments into general descriptions of what they did through faith.

Notice especially that they “were made strong from weakness.”

Their weakness was real, yet God supplied strength. Their accomplishments direct our attention to the God they trusted. Through faith, they acted even when they did not possess the strength their circumstances required.

But faith also enables God’s people to endure when deliverance does not come in this life.

Faith Endures Through Suffering

35 Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection;
36 and others experienced mockings and floggings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, mistreated
38 (of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in desolate places and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.

These verses are essential to the lesson.

The beginning of verse 35 continues the examples of deliverance. Women received their dead back by resurrection, as we see in the ministries of Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17:17–24; 2 Kings 4:18–37).

Then the writer speaks of others who were tortured. They refused release because their hope rested upon a better resurrection.

Their faith did not produce an easy earthly outcome. They endured mockery, physical abuse, imprisonment, and death. They went about in rough clothing, suffered material deprivation, and experienced affliction and mistreatment.

They believed God, and they suffered.

This connects directly with the readers’ circumstances. Hebrews 10:32–36 recalls their persecution, public reproach, and loss of possessions. They needed endurance.

As we have considered throughout this study, that pressure helps explain their temptation to retreat into their former religious life, including temple worship and sacrifices. The writer calls them to hold firmly to Christ.

They were not the first believers to endure extraordinary hardships. Others had suffered and continued trusting God’s word. Faith sustained them even when obedience brought suffering rather than immediate relief.

The World Was Not Worthy of Them

Notice the statement in verse 38:

“Of whom the world was not worthy.”

The world treated these people as though they were worthless. They were rejected and driven into desolate places, mountains, caves, and holes in the ground.

But it was the world that was not worthy of them.

Their poverty did not make them insignificant. The contempt they experienced did not determine their standing before God. He saw their faith and valued their endurance.

We may also be ridiculed, despised, and mistreated because we trust God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus warned that the world’s hatred of His disciples followed its hatred of Him (John 15:18–20).

Yet we continue to believe. The world’s rejection cannot overturn God’s approval.

God Approved Them, Yet They Still Waited

39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised.

Here the writer reaches the climax.

“All these” includes those who experienced mighty victories and those who suffered terribly. God approved their faith as it expressed itself in obedient action and faithful endurance.

But they “did not receive what was promised.”

That is the key. They had God’s approval while still awaiting the ultimate fulfillment of His promise.

Earlier, verse 33 described people who “obtained promises.” They experienced particular fulfillments—victories, deliverances, and other demonstrations of God’s faithfulness. Yet the full realization of His saving purpose still awaited its appointed time.

Some suffered and died while waiting. Their deaths did not cancel God’s word.

The readers needed that encouragement. They had trusted Christ, but they were suffering while awaiting the fullness of salvation. These examples strengthened them to keep believing.

The Promise Awaits Us Together

40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.

God’s purpose includes us.

The making perfect here concerns the final completion of salvation. These faithful people already belonged to God, yet they awaited the ultimate realization of His promises.

We share that expectation.

Jesus has come, died for our sins, risen, and ascended into heaven. Now we await His return and the fullness of salvation promised to His people.

This connects with Hebrews 10:37: the One who is coming will come and will not delay. Our expectation reaches to His second advent. Revelation 19–20 presents His return, the defeat of His enemies, and His millennial reign.

Notice the words “apart from us.” These earlier believers will not receive their ultimate completion apart from us. Those who believed God in earlier generations and those who now trust Christ belong to one family of faith.

We receive that promised fulfillment together.

They did not miss what God had promised. His purpose extended beyond their earthly lifetimes and included us with them.

Keep Believing

Jesus’ words to the church at Smyrna express the same call:

“Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
REVELATION 2:10

Some believers experience remarkable deliverance. Others endure suffering throughout their earthly lives. Hebrews 11 presents both as examples of faith.

God saw their obedience and endurance. He approved their faith, and He remembered His promise.

We can continue to trust Him through physical hardship, material loss, ridicule, and persecution. His word remains certain when the outcome is unseen.

They did NOT receive what was promised during their earthly lives. But the promise remains, and its ultimate fulfillment awaits us together when Jesus returns.